Blood collecting instrument



May 22 1945;

E. R. LAWSHE BLOOD COLLECTING INSTRUMENT Filed Jan. 3, 1942 WIT NESS 7576? ATTORNEYS Patented May 22, 1945 Errol R. Lawshe, Rutherford, N. J., asslgnor to l Becton, Dickinson. & .00., Rutherford, N. J., a

corporation of New Jersey Application January 3, 1942, Serial No. 425,492 3 Claims. (Cl. 128--347) This invention relatesto an instrument for use in the withdrawal of blood from a patient, usually from a vein or artery .in the patients arm, and' the collection of such bloodv in a test tube or the like in sufficient amount to be tested. Instru ments for this purpose usually comprise a hollow or tubular needle which issharpened at one end to facilitate its introduction into the vein or, artery of the patient. and which is provided with some means, such as a clip, to enable the instru; ment to be clamped on a test tube in such manner that the blunt end of the hollow needle will ex tend intothe tube. Probably themost satisfac; tory instrument which has been devised hereto fore for this purpose is the one illustrated. in the Petroff Patent No. 1,465,720. This instrument had thedisadvantage, however, that it was diflie cult to form the spring clip thereofso asto have it squeeze tightly enough on the open end of the test tube to provide a. firm, tight gripfor the instrument and without subjecting the tube to thedanger of being broken under the additional stresses incurred during usage. In order to overcome thisfdisadvantage, it was found necessary to make the Petrofi instrument so that the needle supporting leg offthe clip was approximately as long as the outer leg of the clip. While this mod} ification reduced the difiiculty of. obtaining {a fairly. secure hold on the tube and thepossibility of breakage of the tubes, it accentuated other in; herent disadvantages of this instrument. Fdr example, it broughtthe gripping end of the holder nearer the blunt end of the needle which materially increased the tendency of the needle to flex and it rendered even less rigid the needle holding leg of th spring clip, thus giving the needle a tendency to reciprocate or to shift as a whole with respect to the glass tube during usage. This condition was highly undesirable and necessitated the user to exercise the greatest of care to prevent the causing of unnecessary pain to the patient. The Petrofi instrument also had the disadvantage, due to the fact that the needle extends an appreciable distance. into the test tube, that the needle must necessarily havea relatively large bore in order tocompensate for the fric-' tional resistance of the interior wallsof the needle to the flow of the blood. As the cost of the needle and the pain caused to the patient is in direct proportion to the size of the need1e,,it,wil1 be.

apparent that the needle required in thePetroif construction will be more; expensive and cause more pain to a patient than a smallerneedle. a long needle such as used by Petrofi is also objectionable because it has a greater tendency to flex when inserted into the patient, thereby causing unnecessary pain to the latter and it is harder to clean and sterilize than a short needle. Fur-'.

thermore, the method of connecting the clip to the needle in this construction is a relatively expensive one. These unsatisfactory conditions have caused the art to see if a more perfect and satisfactory instrument mightnot be found but, so far as I am aware, no one has yet succeeded in overcoming all of the disadvantages inherent in a device of this construction. V

It is the purpose of the present invention to provide an improved blood collecting instrument v which is free from all the aforementioned defects and which is of simple and inexpensive construction while'at the same time strong, reliable and completely satisfactory for the purposes intended.

These objects are attained by so constructing the holder of the instrument as to form at its upper end a transverse extension or lip portion which is adapted to seat on the upper endof the test tube and to support the needle so that it extends only a short distance into the test tube, and to provide adjacent tosuch transverse lip a transverse channel-shaped. portion which is so associated with the butt endofthe needlethat the clamping action of the instrument occurs at the upper end portion of the test tube.

The invention will be better understood from the following description, read in connection with the attached drawing which, shows a preferred form of the invention and in which Fig, 1 is an enlarged front elevation of the instrument and the upper end portion of a test tube; Fig. 2 is a side elevational view illustrating the manner in which the instrument is mounted on a test tube readyfor use, the upper portion of the test tube being partly broken away to show the manner in which the needle cooperates with the holder to secure the instrument to the test tube; Fig. 3 is a side elevational view, partly in section, illustrating the manner, in which the instrument is attached to the upper end of the testtube; Fig. 4 v

is a top view of the parts shown in ,Fig. 1 and Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5- --5 of Fig. 2. f

In the drawing, l0 designates the receptacle, such as the test tube illustrated, to which the instrument is attached while in use. The instrument itself is composed of a holder ll provided on its upper end with an offset or transverse lip [2 which is in the nature of a flat plate and is disposed at an angle of slightly less than ninety degrees with relation to the body of the holder. This offset or lip I2 is adapted. to seat on the upper end of the tube In when the instrument is therein with a snug fit. After the needle is iri-' serted through the aperture and properly positioned with respect to the holder, the metallic bowed portion l5 in'the manner illustrated in material of the support [2 around the aperture:

I3 is compressed with the aid of a pair crop-posed dies.

As a result of this compressing operation" the material of the support l2v is. caused to flow into tight engagement with the exterior surface of the needle, compressing the latter to a" slight degree to provide an annularly-shaped interlock as' between the support 12 and. needle. l4- Thus the needle I4 is fixedly pivotedintermediate its ends on. a relatively rigid support, thereby en: abling the two ends ofthe needle to be flexedor bent independently of each other.

,The body of the holder ll except for, a transverse channel-shaped section I5, is convexly formedfro-mitsline of juncturewith the lip or:

plate I! to its lowerend, the degree of curvature of such body being substantially the same as the degree of curvature of the exterior surface, portion of the test tube against which the body will rest so that the body will properly seat on such surface portion of the test tube. It will be noted also, from an observation of Fig. 2 of the drawing, that except for the channeled portion l5 and the lower end 16 of the body which is bent outwardly so as to provide 'a finger rest for the operator when manipulating the instrument, the entire body of the instrument is in engagement with the exterior surface of the tube Ill and this con: dition reduces materially any tendency of the bodyof the holder ll t reciprocate on the glass tube once it has been properly mounted thereon; The channel-shaped or outwardly bowed portion l5 of the holder H is positioned intermediate a relatively short upper portion ll of the body and a relatively long intermediate portion l8. of the body so that when the instrument is on the tube, the bowed portion 15 will bridge a portion of the upper end of the test tube with its curved lines of juncture with the body portions I! and I8 in engagement with the exterior surface of the tube to provide two spaced lines of contact with the upper end portion of the tube.

As will be observed more clearly in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing, the needle I4 is inclined with.

drawing. The incline of the needle I4 is such that its terminal end is spaced from a longitudinal line connecting the interior surfaces of the lines of juncture of the IbOWEd portion l5, less than the thickness of the wall of the tube on which the instrument is to be mounted, and is preferably closely adjacent to such line.

It will thus be seen; that-in order to mount the instrument on the test tube II], it will be first necessary to insert the open end of the tube between the terminal end of the needle l4 and the juncture of the bowed portion l5 with the body 'portion 18 and'into the space defined by the Fig.3 of the drawing. The test tube is then turned 'towardthe' body portion I8 with its upper end pivotedagainst the interior surface of the of the turbo slips between the body portionill d the butt end of the needle. The interior surfaceo-f the body of the holder at the 'iunctures of the bowed portion 15 with theportions I] and 18' thereof is smoothly curved'so that the above operation is readily and easily accomplished in one continuous movement. As the plate l2, due to the formation of the holder, is rigid relative to the needle, the butt end of the needle isdisp-laced by the tube l0 and placed under a tension such that the, upper end portion of the tube is securely clamped between the terminal end of the needle and the spaced body portions l1 and I8.

It will be apparent from the foregoing descrlption, that when the instrument is properly mountedon the test tube with the upper end of the latter in engagement withv the plate 12, the instrument will be securely attached to the upper end portion of the tube and there will be substantially no tendency of theinstrument to ride or shift relative to the tube duringusage. .Due

to the factthat the bowed portion l5 of the holder resistance'to the flow of blood with the consequent advantages of being less painful to the patient and less expensiveto manufacture. Even though the needle is finer, there is practically no danger of fiexture in itsuse because 'of its tends through the latter at a point spaced from theinterior surface of portion [1 of the holder at the juncture of the same with the plate l2, a distance only slightly greater than the thickness of the wall of the glass tube [0. I The blunt or lbutt end of the inclined needle 14 terminates at a point. intermediate the curved lines of juncture of the bowed portion IS with the body of the holder H and closer to its lineof juncture with the body portion' 18 than to its otherjline' of juncture. The space between the terminal end of the needle 14v and the line of juncture of the bowed portion I5 with the body portion I8 is just enough to enable the upper end of the test tube In to be readily slipped therebetween into the space defined byjthebowed portion [5 and the butt end of the'needle, as is illustrated in Fig. 3 of the rigidsupport l2 and the tension which is applied thereto below the plate l2. By reason of the fact thattheneedle is'spaced from a longitudinal line connecting the interior surfaces of the holder body portions l1 and [B on each side of the bowed portion [5, a distance less than the thickness of the wall of the tube, the butt or terminal end of the needle and the holder portions l1 and I8 cooperate to firmly clamp the device to the tube. This distance of the terminal endof the' needle from the said longitudinal line and also the "distanoe'between the portion ofthe needle which extends through the plate l2'and the portion ll of the holder are predetermined and depend upon the thickness of the wall of the receptacle on whichthe device is'designed to be used. Thus the device'is constructed so that the distance of the terminal end of the needle from the said longitudinal'line' will be less than the minimum thickness encountered in a particular type of recep-' tacle, while the distance between the needleand upper end of plate I! will be sufficiently greater than such minimum thickness to enable the plate l2 to be seated on the upper edges or rims of receptacles whose Walls may vary from such minimum thickness. As the variances in the thicknesses of test tubes are not material, being in the nature of several millimeters from a minimum thickness, the portion of the needle below the plate l2 which is independently flexible with respect to such plate, will be displaced readily with V respect to said longitudinal line to take care of such variances as the device is inserted on the tubes.

While I have illustrated and described. a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes in the construction and arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A blood collecting device comprising a holder adapted to be mounted on the open end of a receptacle, a rigid supporting member provided on said holder, a needle extending through said member, the material of which said member is constituted being of greater density around the portion of the needle extending therethrough than in the remainder of said member and fixedly securing the needle to said rigid member to provide a fixed support for said needle intermediate its ends and to enable one end of the needle to be flexed relatively independently of the other; the butt end of said needle which is adapted to project into the receptacle on which the device is mounted, having a length less than the length of the holder and cooperable with said holder to clamp the device in position on a receptacle.

2. A blood collecting device comprising a holder adapted to be mounted on the open end of a receptacle, a needle supporting member provided on said holder and extending as a whole in a direction transverse to the central axis of the receptacle, said supporting member being rigid relative to the needle and adapted to seat on the receptacle, a needle mounted on said supporting member to enable its butt end to extend into the receptacle, said needle being fixedly secured to said member intermediate its ends to enable the oppositely extending end portions of said needle to be flexed relative to said rigid supporting member and the butt end of said needle and. said holder being constructed and arranged to cooperate to clamp the device in position on the receptacle,

3. The combination of a hollow needle sharpened at one end and a holder adapted to support said needle on a receptacle, said holder including having spaced surface portions adapted to engage a needle supporting portion and a body portion the exterior surface of the receptacle on which the holder is to be mounted and connected by an intermediate portion spaced from a straight line connecting such surface portions, said needle being carried by said needle supporting portion to enable itsbutt end to extend into the receptacle and said needle extending in inclined relation to the body of said holder, the terminal end of the butt of said needle being positioned intermediate the spaced body surface portions and being spaced from said line a distance less than the thickness of the wall of the receptacle, whereby the butt end of said needle will engage under tension the interior surface of the receptacle in the region intermediate said spaced body surface portions.

ERROL R. LAWSHE. 

